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Put Away That Ouija Board

After graduating high school, I enrolled at the local college to take the night course “Introduction to Parapsychology”. The instructor, Bob, had over 15 years experience in paranormal research, studies and fieldwork. He was verse on anything involving UFOs, ghosts, cryptids and other supernatural phenomenon. One night Bob covered the subject “communication with the dead. He discuss about mediums, methods in contacting spirits, EVPs, and seances. What stuck with me over the years from that night was his empathize to everyone in the class to never use an Ouija board.

Before continuing, I would like to explain to those not familiar with what an Ouija board is. The board contains letters, numbers and other symbols along the edges with Yes or No printed at the top. A movable pointer or turned over glass is put in the centre where two or more people placed fingers unto the pointer. The idea here is someone asked questions and the spirit moves the pointer to the letters, numbers or symbols spelling out answers. The Ouija Board appeared in mid 1800s, used by mediums in performing seances, yet claims to having an more ancient history remain unfounded. The board grew in such popularity it was patent, sold globally, marketed as a toy and still used today as a tool to communicated with the dead.

You will find most paranormal investigator advising to never use the Ouija Board as Bob did with my class. As he explained, first there are people who just fooling around with others by moving the pointer themselves, then if the board did made contact with something, it could be troublesome and even dangerous as stated by these reason. One, you are unable to see or confirm who you are communicating too. Two, you don’t know the true intentions of anything you may contact. Three, something may be summoned which you can not hand or get rid off. Now, I know there are those wondering if I would has tried out the Ouija Board out of curiosity. The answer would have been yes, if not for the events that occurred several months later which finalize my decision to never use one.

On a weekend, I went to my friend Paul’s place for a small get together. Later in the evening, a thunderstorm developed and knocked the power out in the neighbourhood. I and a few others had taken cabs home while the rest stay behind waiting for the power to return. In the morning, Paul called me to come over as he needed to talk. Upon entering the apartment, I noticed the picture window in the kitchen had shattered. Before asking what happened, Paul began his story that after a hour I left, the power was still out and everyone became bored. He tried to see about some board games but pulled out an old Ouija board belonging to his uncle. With no other entertainment, everyone decided to give a try. One of the girls attempted to make contact with a deceased boyfriend, as the pointer moved around spelled out a word and she spoke it. Few seconds of silence passed then something unseen everyone away from the table and crashed into the window. While helping him cover the exposed window with a tarp, Paul shown me some unusual tracks leading from the broken window he found outside. Either of us could make out to what local animal could make those footprints. After we finished he thanked me for the help, he then went to a barbecue burned the Ouija board and asked to never to bring up this situation again.

Whether a hoax or not, I could not tell you, as other people I asked about that night remained quiet, even today refuse to discuss it. Over the years, I have yet to use the board or be involved in anything where one is present. Whether you take this story as advice, suggestion or a warning when comes to Ouija boards, just put it away

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One thought on “Put Away That Ouija Board”

Ouija boards have always freaked me out. Part of it is just the general sense of danger that they’ve acquired, both through folks “in the know” and general pop culture assessments of them being dangerous, and part of it stems from stories from folks I’ve known and their bad experiences with them.
But I’m one of those people who always wants to know “why?” Why would Ouija boards be any “more” dangerous than the dozens (or hundreds) of other methods purportedly used to contact spirits?
Finally came up with an answer I’m happy with; I tend to believe that people leave their invisible marks on things, places and other people. That goes double for things we create. In the old days, a witch, medicine man, clairvoyant or what have you was generally expected to create their own tools for the job, thus imbuing them with a portion of the user-to-be’s spirit, allowing it to harmonize with the individual.
Ouija boards today are mass produced via machine. What sort of “aura” is a machine going to leave on a device that is specifically designed to part the veil? Or does it just leave a blank space, an empty vacuum that, well, pretty much anything could get into, if so inclined?
Sorry. Got wordy. Anyway. Interesting post. Ouija boards bad, BBQing them good. XD

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